A Hunter's Memoir
by iamsolarflare
Summary: Look, I'm not going to lie to anyone. Ever since I rescued Gaol from that damn suit of armor, things went deep downhill for me. Where was I during the Aurum invasion, you ask? Or the time the goddess of nature was attacking? Well, it ain't too far of a stretch to say I still have nightmares about where I went instead. ((M for blood/gore/body horror. It's Bloodborne, after all.))
1. I - A Warning

Hey, Angelface. Magnus here.

I don't know why you're reading this. Not in terms of a "why are you reading my personal notes" type of thing - that I can understand. The urge to pry can be goddamn impossible to shake off at times, and I'm not gonna fault you for that. Hell, snooping isn't even all that bad as far as I'm concerned.

Anyways, though, if you're reading this, it's not the act of privacy invasion than I'm worried about. Far from it. It's the fact that you, for some reason, _really_ want to know what fucked me up so badly.

And yeah, the answers are all in here. Some answers about Lady Gaol, too, if that's something you're curious about. It's just that this log isn't meant to be read, so, uh - I'm not censoring any of my memories. So proceed with caution, because I went through a _lot_ of pain, and I'm gonna be trying to describe things that no man should ever have to lay eyes on in absolutely crystalline detail.

You'll learn a lot of things from this, sure. But I'm absolutely positive that you'll wish you hadn't learned some of it. That's the way it is.

I do have a request to make, though. Kind of a stupid one. If you read this, tell me, okay? I won't be mad, and I can certainly hold back Lady Gaol from doing anything drastic. It's just that I'd like - well, _we'd_ like, since I'm sure Gaol feels the same - to talk about this without talking about this. To lay out everything in text where nobody can interrupt, and then know that someone took it in and cared. Maybe I'll even answer some questions, if you have any.

Right then. Flip the page again and I'll tell you what happened from the very beginning.

Good luck.


	2. II - A Gang

I'd been a mercenary for a while when I met Gaol. Actually, what had happened was that we were both hired for the same job by a man who, to this day, I can't remember the name of. I'm gonna call him Redd, though, because that was the color of the jacket he wore. A burgundy red duster, always covered in at least one layer of dirt. He also had this constant five o'clock shadow no matter when in the day you saw him. Never clean shaven, never actually bearded, just constant stubble. That was Redd.

He was a mercenary too - carried a rifle with a bayonet and specialty ammunition for causing the maximum amount of pain to Underworld troops. Of course, though, while that worked fine on the ramparts of a castle, it didn't hold up too well for the mission he wanted to undertake. So he dug into his pockets - must have been a rich man, because the job paid well - and hired out a bunch of different freelance mercs to work under him.

I was one of them, of course. He approached me while I was beating up a gang of Skuttlers that'd been causing a nearby town some trouble. I'd been about to take out the last one, a lowly foot soldier, when there was a loud gunshot and the thing just keeled over dead. Redd was there standing right behind it, leaning on his rifle and giving me a small smile.

"You're Magnus Erik, right?"

I nodded, planting my sword in the ground and then leaning against it. For anyone else, this might've been a bad idea, but back then I was cocky and perfectly willing to let down my guard. I thought myself invincible before everything, honestly; figured that my will for revenge and the goddess I prayed to wouldn't let anything bad happen to me.

"Just call me Magnus. What's it to you, pal?"

He introduced himself then, saying his name (which, like I said, I don't remember) and shaking my hand before making his offer. "It's important to me because I'd like to hire you."

"You can pay me?"

He nodded. "I can pay you, and I'm willing to pay several others as well. But I need a team that works together."

"Long as they ain't too high-and-mighty, I'll be fine. What're ya offering?"

He gave me the sum then. It was a damn hefty amount - hell, more than I would've told him I needed to be paid. No way I was going to tell him that, though, so I haggled up a little bit. Not by too much more of an increase, but still, money in my pocket was money in my pocket.

Redd clapped me on the back after we'd finished talking.

"Well, Magnus, let's go meet your new gang."

* * *

There were five people at the camp, not counting Redd and I. Two were sparring, one was egging the combatants on, and two were just watching quietly, passive.

One of the people fighting was a muscular lady with dark skin - maybe a shade or two darker than mine - and jet-black hair tied up in a tight bun. It looked to me like she wasn't using any weapons, but as she threw a punch at the other person I saw a glint of metal on her hands.

Her sparring partner was thin as a twig and remarkably pale - even their hair was white. They were wearing loose gray clothing and spinning around a bamboo staff around in a swift manner that made it extremely hard to see where exactly the weapon was going to hit.

"Anise, Kara, didn't I say that fighting with weapons isn't allowed?" Redd snapped, stepping forwards. The two immediately stepped back away from each other and walked away, the pale person heading for the tents and the dark-skinned woman heading directly towards me.

"Name's Kara Evicion," she said, offering a hand. I took it and managed to avoid wincing as she gave me one of the most painful handshakes I've ever had to endure. "You a new hire, too?"

"He's the last one," Redd said proudly.

"Bigass sword you got there, friend," she responded, ignoring Redd completely. "You actually able to use it?"

"The day I'm unable to lift this is the day I've lost both my arms," I responded. It was more than a bit overdramatic, and so the slap on the back I got from Kara (along with a loud bark of laughter) was probably completely deserved.

"I like you. What's your name?"

"It's Magnus," Redd explained for me before I could so much as open my mouth. "And as much as I'm sure he'd like to shoot the breeze with you, I'd like to be able to introduce him to the others."

"Speaking of which," he added, taking me by the arm and leading me over towards the place where Anise and Kara had been fighting, "here's your next teammate."

I recognized the person as one of the two who'd been watching the fight. She was small, both in terms of figure and in height, and wore a black cloak that looked extremely heavy and made it very hard to see her eyes.

She looked up at me, pushing back the hood to reveal dark skin with light splotches everywhere. It almost appeared like she'd gotten splashed by paint with the way the patterns were.

We stared at each other for a while - I couldn't think of anything to say, and she certainly wasn't talking. Redd rolled his eyes.

"She doesn't speak the same language as us," he finally explained, "but Nilya is the best prophet in the land."

"Ya hired a _fortuneteller_ for a dangerous expedition?" I couldn't keep the incredulousness from entering my voice. Nilya scowled at me and pulled several knucklebones out of seemingly thin air - although, looking back on it, I'm sure they were just in a hidden pocket on her cloak.

She pointed them at me, and I noticed that they were sharpened - sharpened and bloodstained.

"Aight, I take that back. You can always use someone in contact with the gods," I added lamely. The look Nilya was giving me seemed like the "I-will-kill-you-in-your-sleep" type, and that was something I really was hoping to avoid.

"Nilya, this is Magnus," he said, gesturing at me.

" _Magnus Erik_ ," she responded. My name sounded weird in whatever accent she spoke with, like it didn't actually belong to me, and the fact that she knew my full name was more than a little disconcerting. To this day, I'm not sure if Nilya had heard of me, or if she just _knew_ who I was somehow.

Just as I was recovering from having a very small, spooky prophet stare me down, someone grabbed me by the shoulders and yelled "HAH!" loudly. I turned around, panicked, and threw a hasty punch, which he promptly dodged.

"Magnus! Long time since we've seen each other. Remember me?"

I did remember him. The man who called himself Vexer had gone in on the same job as me, and we'd run into each other halfway through. He was a loudmouth, always talking, even while he was fending off hordes of enemies with a crossbow and sword.

"Bet you thought you were rid of me, huh?"

"I did," I responded, crossing my arms. We'd parted on less than ideal terms, so having to work with him again was not something I was looking forward to.

"Well, you aren't! Oh, it is going to be _great_ working with you again!" And with that, he saluted and headed off towards a tent, whistling.

"Keep an eye on him," I muttered to Redd. "He'll steal everything you own if ya don't watch out."

There were now only two people left to meet in the camp - Anise, who I at least knew the name of, and the other person who'd been watching the match - someone in light armor with extremely bulky, intricate gauntlets and a spear strapped to their back.

To my surprise, Redd instead steered me towards the direction of the tents. "Go find Anise," he explained. "I'm going to help Kara with dinner."

"And them?" I asked, jabbing a thumb at the armored person standing there, arms crossed and helmet over their face.

"Gaol? She'll talk to you when she wants to."

* * *

Anise pulled me aside as I wandered through the tents - by sticking out their staff directly in front of me, waiting until I bumped into it, and then using the shove I gave the bamboo pole to spin around behind me and shoulder me into a side path.

"Another sword-user, huh? We've got a lot of those, though yours looks like more of a club to me." They grinned, twirling the staff casually.

"Are the dramatics really needed?" I grumbled, crossing my arms. Seeing Vexer around had put me in a downright foul mood, and it definitely wasn't going away anytime soon. One could say his presence _vexed_ me - he certainly would've been the kind of person to make that pun.

"Someone's got to be the chirpy rogue," they responded. "You've met everyone now, right?"

"Everyone besides Gaol," I said. "What's her deal, anyways?"

Anise gave a low whistle. "Whew. Digging into the real issues, aren't we?"

"Sure. I like to know who I've gotta work with before I trust 'em with anything. So what's her deal?"

They shrugged. "Nobody knows much about Gaol. What we do know? She gets into these quiet moods. I'd call them periods of depression, but when she's like this it's hard to tell if she's sad or silently fuming."

"Also, Nilya calls her 'Lady Gaol.' That's definitely something worth noting."

"That weird?" I asked. "I don't know Nilya well enough."

They stopped spinning the staff and leaned forwards on it instead. "Well, let's put it this way. She certainly doesn't refer to anyone else using honorifics, not even Redd."

"Aight, that _is_ odd." I frowned. "So, Anise, not to change the subject, but d'you think dinner's ready?"

"I'm sure of it!" they responded, pushing me forwards to the center of the camp. I couldn't see their face, but I was fairly sure they were grinning at me behind my back.


	3. III - An Acquaintance

Dinner was simple that first night - just meat and potatoes. It was seasoned well enough, but there wasn't much special to it besides that.

I sat alone at first - Anise was bugging Kara again, Vexer had seen the glare I was giving him across the fire and had instead chosen to chat up Redd, and I was giving Nilya the widest berth that was possible in such a cramped space.

It was a surprise when I noticed someone sitting near me, since I'd taken pains to avoid everyone and my mind didn't quite register who the person was at first.

"Good to see a new face."

I managed to avoid jumping in my seat as I turned to face the person, still trying to balance my meal with one hand.

Gaol wasn't wearing her helmet anymore or the heavy gauntlets, although the rest of her armor was still there, along with the spear. It would've been hard to recognize her, but it looked like she was the only person in the camp who wore armor at any point in time.

She was pale-skinned, with long blonde hair tied up in a ponytail, and she looked very stern for someone who had to be pretty young.

"I'm Magnus," I said, offering up my free hand.

"I know," she responded, shaking it gently. "And you probably already know that I'm Gaol."

"It's a bit of a weird name," I said - conversation wasn't exactly a strong suit of mine, even before everything that happened.

"My family has odd naming traditions."

"Mmh." As rude as I knew I was being, I was also extremely hungry. Conversation with the mysterious spearwoman could wait until after dinner.

And as luck would have it, the conversation did wait.

* * *

I couldn't sleep that first night - a combination of worrying that either Nilya would kill me, or Vexer would steal everything in the camp. So I went out to look at the sky instead.

Gaol was there, leaning against a dead tree trunk and looking up at the stars, her helmet on again. She nodded politely as I approached.

"Nice night, innit?"

She shrugged. "It's a different sky than what I'm used to. More stars and less moon."

"Well, it's the only sky I've ever lived under," I said, staring upwards as well. I hadn't been exaggerating when I'd called it a nice night - there were hardly any clouds at all, and the moon and stars were full and bright.

"You've always lived here, then?" She sounded curious, maybe even confused that someone could live in the same place their entire life.

"Well, not _here_ exactly. Home's long gone. But I've lived in this country since childhood, maybe before then." I wasn't sure why I was telling Gaol this, since it wasn't like me to let strangers know about my personal life. But I got the feeling she could keep a secret.

"It's nice here," she said absently. "Peaceful. I'm not so used to quiet nights."

"Well, it ain't always quiet here - the Underworld likes attackin' by the light of the moon. But it looks like we're in a safe, deserted place, and we ain't got much that they can take from us."

"The Underworld," Gaol responded, turning towards me. "What are they like?"

"Vicious, nasty lil' shits. Or sometimes they're large shits, I guess. The point is, you got a lot of ones that fly around causing trouble, and then others that fight ya on the ground. They're ugly an' rude, but they're organized still."

"Organized beasts?" She frowned. "I wouldn't believe you if not for the fact that I've seen them myself. They have a leader, then?"

"Sure. Medusa. Nasty goddess with a head full of snakes and a gaze they say can turn ya to stone."

Gaol shuddered, and at the time I had no idea why. It seemed like she was just being another superstitious person, someone scared of myths.

I knew nothing.

"She sounds horrid," she said in a low, quiet tone.

"The Underworld ain't gonna beat us," I assured her. "Not as long as we humans got blades an' guns."

"Isn't there a goddess you pray to, also?" she asked. "Palutena, was it?"

"That's exactly her name. Me, I ain't really sure she exists. She's not exactly done much to help us in the _twenty fuckin' years_ our world's been fighting the Underworld. So either she isn't up there at all, or she doesn't give a damn about our suffering. Take your pick of the two."

It was hard to talk about Palutena without getting a bad taste in my mouth. For years, I'd believed in the goddess of light and trusted in her guidance - but that hadn't gotten me anywhere.

So I decided that I wouldn't worship her - or even particularly believe in her - without proof. To me, if I was going to believe in people that probably didn't exist, it was better to put stock in a god that represented why I fought the Underworld.

"Better an absent god than an overly active one," Gaol muttered. I wasn't sure what to make of the comment, so I assumed that she'd meant it for herself and said nothing.

We sat in silence for a while, staring at the sky, and then she spoke again.

"The monsters here are so... brightly colored. Everything is vibrant."

"I've always found that a little weird, yeah. But purple and green are the Underworld's signature colors. Guess Medusa has to make them wear _some_ kinda uniform."

"Of course. I keep forgetting that they're led by someone. It's odd to me."

"You got monsters that ain't led by anyone?"

She sighed, then looked over to me again. "Magnus, you don't want to know about where I came from."

Well, unfortunately, if there was anything that made me curious back then, it was people telling me that I didn't want to know something. I didn't exactly know how to leave well enough alone, so of course I had to open my mouth and ask.

"Maybe I do. Gotta be better than askin' about Vexer's backstory. You ain't gonna talk my ears off."

She crossed her arms. "It's not that I don't want to tell someone. But not only do I not know you that well, but Yha-"

Gaol stopped mid-sentence, correcting herself. She really hadn't wanted me knowing the name of her home. "The place I'm from is awful, is all. Even with people like Vexer around, I feel a million times safer here."

"Well, ya shouldn't get used to that backstabbing asshat," I growled. It was probably a bit of an overreaction, and we both knew it.

She blinked at my sudden outburst. "Is he really that bad?"

"Vexer? Sure he is." I got up off the ground, suddenly very eager to _not_ continue the conversation. "He took everything we'd worked together to achieve for himself and left me for dead."

She was silent, and I took that as my cue to walk away. I made it about halfway to the tents when she called after me.

"Magnus?"

"Yeah?"

"It was good talking to you."


End file.
